South Africa must say goodbye to five-year driving licences

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) is calling on Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to waive fines and the requirement for temporary licences for those whose licence cards are stuck in the backlog.

Stefanie Fick, the executive director for accountability, has written to the minister and asked her to consider extending the validity period for all cards to 10 years.

“On 17 June, Outa’s Advocate Stefanie Fick wrote to the minister, asking her to consider extending the validity period for all cars to 10 years,” Outa said in a statement.

In her letter to the minister, Fick emphasised that fining motorists who are still waiting for their renewed cards would be unfair.

As a result, she also requested the following while the backlog exists:

• Announce a moratorium on fines related to expired driver’s licence cards for motorists who have applied to renew, and that no temporary licences be required until the backlog is cleared.
• Public communication of this moratorium through all official channels, including Road Traffic Management Corporation platforms, provincial traffic authorities, and traditional and social media.
• Provide clarity to all enforcement officials to prevent unwarranted fines and the harassment of motorists.

Fick’s request to extend the driving licence validity period comes after Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage suggested doing so as a means of immediate relief for motorists and the transport department.

“We’ve been saying to Barbara Creecy for some time, and the previous ministers: start by extending the validity period of the driver’s licences from five to ten years,” said Duvenage.

“It’s the norm around the world, and that takes a lot of pressure off the department straight away.”

A recent MyBroadband analysis comparing South Africa’s driving licence validity period to 32 other countries revealed that only two had shorter validity periods.

Seven, including Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria, matched South Africa’s validity period.

However, it’s important to note that the countries offer validity periods of up to five years, but motorists may receive a licence that is only valid for three years.

Countries like Canada, Botswana, Japan, and Portugal have validity periods similar to those in South Africa. However, they tend to shorten once the motorist reaches a certain age.

The driving licence validity periods of the remaining 23 countries are longer than South Africa’s.

Four to six months to clear the backlog

In mid-June 2025, Department of Transport spokesperson Collen Msibi revealed that the driving licence backlog had reduced to 690,000 cards, which he estimated would take four to six months to clear.

“About 269,000 cards have been printed already, so the backlog is now sitting at 690,000, which is still a big number,” said Msibi.

“In terms of reducing the backlog as a whole, we try to do the monthly updates, but we’re looking at about four to six months.”

However, the figure of 269,000 cards being printed likely includes new card applications.

Minister Creecy recently revealed that the backlog stood at 733,000 cards as of 15 May 2025, indicating that the backlog had only decreased by around 43,000 cards.

Given that there were 18 working days between 15 May and Msibi’s latest update, the Driving Licence Card Account has reduced the backlog by an average of 2,400 cards per day.

At this tempo, clearing the backlog will take just over 13 months.

Msibi also noted that while motorists typically receive their renewed licence within “about 14 days” of applying, the backlog is slowing the process.

“Now, with this backlog, things are obviously changing. So you’re looking at about four to six weeks to be able to get your driver’s licence card,” he said.

“But all is not lost. If you applied for your driver’s licence card before the current one expires, you must just keep your receipt with you in the car.”